Whoops. Again. It has been a long time since I last posted, and a lot has happened so this post will most likely miss a lot of stuff out. Sorry!
You see what happened was that in the UK I had a bit of time on my hands as we had done quite a lot of the stuff that needed doing. When we arrived in NZ on the 26th October (yay All Blacks!), however, we had a bazillion things to do.
Looking for a flat was one such thing and it took us ages. We looked at 26 different places all over Auckland, eventually finding a lovely place in Remuera. We did apply for another one in Mission Bay but were rejected! How rude!
Other things we had do on arrival were; buy a car, apply for jobs, sort out furniture, buy a kettle, visit schools, visit agencies, eat, sleep, apply for more jobs, and more jobs and even more jobs!
I applied for over 30 jobs, eventually getting one in South Auckland. My wife also got a job, but not in South Auckland. Nice and close to where we live actually, so that is all good.
No we both have jobs, we have also got working visas - not to be confused with Permanent Residency Visas - that allow us to come and go and work in NZ for the next two years. However, our other PR application should be processed at some point making things a bit more, er, permanent. Surprise, surprise my wife and I each had to pay another separate fee for each of our work visas even though we had already forked out over £1000 for our original visa application!
Anyway, the good news is that we have a flat, a car, jobs and visas so all-in-all it has been successful couple of months. Except for the lack of blog posts...
So we are going back to Brum for Christmas, and then come back for three weeks of summer in NZ before starting teaching! Exciting stuff.
More to come - when I get around to it...
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Friday, 30 September 2011
An on it goes...
Huh? How many weeks til we go? 3?! Surely not. We still have items 3, 5, 23, 29, 42, 43, 44, 45, 56, 58, 60, 91, 99, 101, 102, 112, 121, and 101,129,928 to do before we get to New Zealand. There just isn't enough time.
And so goes the conversation in my head. The count down on my computer desktop has just turned from 25 days to go to 24 days to go. We have just had our penultimate pay check from work. People keep saying 'You must be getting excited now'...
Yep, but nervous too.
As the departure day looms, we have been getting more and more nervous. We still have a lot to do and it is looking more and more likely that without a job offer before Christmas, we could be in a whole heap of trouble. A whole HEAP! But ... we are positive people. We will get a job without any trouble - we are both employable, charming, experienced and awesome! In fact, I'm in the process of applying to a school and they have their own swimming pool! Pretty exciting for a teacher from the UK, but probably quite an insignificant bit of information for a Kiwi. Good motivation for me :o)
We have just sent off our ITA to Immigration New Zealand. They have taken the fee, but will not allocate someone to look at our application for up to 4 months! Typical! Hopefully, a job offer will speed up the process, but who knows...
We have a leaving bash planned for two days before we fly, which is going to be really fun, but also probably quite emotional. We are going to miss our friends and family so much when we are living in NZ. We will obviously have Skype and the like to keep in touch, but there is nothing like beating your brother at tennis in real life, or giving your nephew a hug, and the banter we have between buddies just can't be recreated in an e-mail... We just have to remember why we want to go - a better life for our family, more space, good work-life balance - among other things.
Now I'm going to get back to that application. Wish me luck!
And so goes the conversation in my head. The count down on my computer desktop has just turned from 25 days to go to 24 days to go. We have just had our penultimate pay check from work. People keep saying 'You must be getting excited now'...
Yep, but nervous too.
As the departure day looms, we have been getting more and more nervous. We still have a lot to do and it is looking more and more likely that without a job offer before Christmas, we could be in a whole heap of trouble. A whole HEAP! But ... we are positive people. We will get a job without any trouble - we are both employable, charming, experienced and awesome! In fact, I'm in the process of applying to a school and they have their own swimming pool! Pretty exciting for a teacher from the UK, but probably quite an insignificant bit of information for a Kiwi. Good motivation for me :o)
We have just sent off our ITA to Immigration New Zealand. They have taken the fee, but will not allocate someone to look at our application for up to 4 months! Typical! Hopefully, a job offer will speed up the process, but who knows...
We have a leaving bash planned for two days before we fly, which is going to be really fun, but also probably quite emotional. We are going to miss our friends and family so much when we are living in NZ. We will obviously have Skype and the like to keep in touch, but there is nothing like beating your brother at tennis in real life, or giving your nephew a hug, and the banter we have between buddies just can't be recreated in an e-mail... We just have to remember why we want to go - a better life for our family, more space, good work-life balance - among other things.
Now I'm going to get back to that application. Wish me luck!
Thursday, 25 August 2011
Slow progress
Even though my wife and I have been fortunate enough to be on week 5 of almost 6 weeks of holiday, we have made only a little bit of progress in terms of getting to NZ.
You may remember from my last post that we are now simply heading to New Zealand in October and going to look for a job and then we are going to complete the visa process. Hopefully. So, to that end we have a million and one things to do such as empty the flat, write CV's, applications, redecorate the flat, sell vehicles, open/close bank accounts, end contracts and many more tedious and time-consuming things.
To date we have; removed wood chip from the hall and repainted, taken a lot of rubbish to the tip, had a car boot sale (no DVDs left!), opened an NZ bank account, registered with the NZTC, taken clothes and shoes to the clothes and shoes banks and I think that is about it. The problem is, you see, that we have also; been to France for a week, been to Liverpool, been to Cadbury World, read books, slept, watched 'The Real Housewives of Orange County', played tennis and golf, occupied our Kiwi cousin, written blog posts (just one, actually), been cycling, visited friends, looked out of the window, farted, slept some more and a selection of other things too interesting to mention. There is a lot of work avoidance going on here, but the good news is that my wife and I are both excellent last-minute doers. When it comes down to the very last possible minute, that is our time to shine! We will be the most efficient, productive and stressed people you have ever met, but what needs to be done, will get done.
Anyway, stop distracting me! I've got loads of stuff to do... Where did I put my book?
You may remember from my last post that we are now simply heading to New Zealand in October and going to look for a job and then we are going to complete the visa process. Hopefully. So, to that end we have a million and one things to do such as empty the flat, write CV's, applications, redecorate the flat, sell vehicles, open/close bank accounts, end contracts and many more tedious and time-consuming things.
To date we have; removed wood chip from the hall and repainted, taken a lot of rubbish to the tip, had a car boot sale (no DVDs left!), opened an NZ bank account, registered with the NZTC, taken clothes and shoes to the clothes and shoes banks and I think that is about it. The problem is, you see, that we have also; been to France for a week, been to Liverpool, been to Cadbury World, read books, slept, watched 'The Real Housewives of Orange County', played tennis and golf, occupied our Kiwi cousin, written blog posts (just one, actually), been cycling, visited friends, looked out of the window, farted, slept some more and a selection of other things too interesting to mention. There is a lot of work avoidance going on here, but the good news is that my wife and I are both excellent last-minute doers. When it comes down to the very last possible minute, that is our time to shine! We will be the most efficient, productive and stressed people you have ever met, but what needs to be done, will get done.
Anyway, stop distracting me! I've got loads of stuff to do... Where did I put my book?
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Cor blimey!
It just gets better!
So, it turns out that we couldn't submit the ITA that we received as the qualifications didn't match up. So it turns out we have very few points - certainly not enough to get pulled out of the pool again. I'm over it!
To find out more information and to hopefully find some alternative, we went to London, to NZ house and had a chat with a nice immigration officer. He was really helpful, but said his hands were tied, but that we were good candidates to be immigrants to New Zealand. What we took away from the meeting was that we could simply go to NZ on a tourist visa and look for a job when we got there and then complete the visa process with a job offer and the glorious 50 points this would give us!
This, unbeleivably, is what we have decided to do! The flights are booked for the 24th October and we will be looking for a job pretty much from the moment we land! It is really exciting, but obviously very nerve-wracking, but we are both committed to the process and will do everything we can to secure a teaching job between us before Christmas...
Roll on October...
So, it turns out that we couldn't submit the ITA that we received as the qualifications didn't match up. So it turns out we have very few points - certainly not enough to get pulled out of the pool again. I'm over it!
To find out more information and to hopefully find some alternative, we went to London, to NZ house and had a chat with a nice immigration officer. He was really helpful, but said his hands were tied, but that we were good candidates to be immigrants to New Zealand. What we took away from the meeting was that we could simply go to NZ on a tourist visa and look for a job when we got there and then complete the visa process with a job offer and the glorious 50 points this would give us!
This, unbeleivably, is what we have decided to do! The flights are booked for the 24th October and we will be looking for a job pretty much from the moment we land! It is really exciting, but obviously very nerve-wracking, but we are both committed to the process and will do everything we can to secure a teaching job between us before Christmas...
Roll on October...
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Hopes
The latest update in the Morris-Adams emigration saga...
Yesterday afternoon, I thought to myself: 'Why don't I check the NZIS website - you never know if we have been selected from the EOI pool'. So I found the website, typed in our username and then got the password wrong. It's been a long time! Then I got it wrong again. And again.
'Sorry, your account is now locked for the next 8 hours'
Oh well, I thought - it won't have changed anyway. I'll check it another day.
Then, this morning we were leaving the house and my beautiful wife (the principal applicant to emigrate) found a letter addressed to her from 'abroad'. We were pretty confused/surprised and opened it to find a letter from NZIS saying we had been selected from the pool. We had been here before so we didn't get too excited, but what I didn't mention was that we were on our way out to pick up a mysterious package from the post office...
This turned out to be an Invitation to Apply (ITA) from the New Zealand Immigration Service! We were getting excited now!
We are really trying hard not to get our hopes up too high as obviously last time we were shot down, but this time it seems more promising as they have done their preliminary checks and sent us and ITA.
Now all we have to do is get our police checks done, have medicals and register with the NZTC, then take our application down to New Zealand House in London...
Fingers crossed and keeping a tight lid on the excitement...
Yesterday afternoon, I thought to myself: 'Why don't I check the NZIS website - you never know if we have been selected from the EOI pool'. So I found the website, typed in our username and then got the password wrong. It's been a long time! Then I got it wrong again. And again.
'Sorry, your account is now locked for the next 8 hours'
Oh well, I thought - it won't have changed anyway. I'll check it another day.
Then, this morning we were leaving the house and my beautiful wife (the principal applicant to emigrate) found a letter addressed to her from 'abroad'. We were pretty confused/surprised and opened it to find a letter from NZIS saying we had been selected from the pool. We had been here before so we didn't get too excited, but what I didn't mention was that we were on our way out to pick up a mysterious package from the post office...
This turned out to be an Invitation to Apply (ITA) from the New Zealand Immigration Service! We were getting excited now!
We are really trying hard not to get our hopes up too high as obviously last time we were shot down, but this time it seems more promising as they have done their preliminary checks and sent us and ITA.
Now all we have to do is get our police checks done, have medicals and register with the NZTC, then take our application down to New Zealand House in London...
Fingers crossed and keeping a tight lid on the excitement...
Sunday, 20 March 2011
And, back a step...
Oh dear. From high up high, to low down low. It turns out that after being selected from the pool, we have been docked 10 points by the New Zealand Immigration Service, and therefore thrown back in the pool with just 125 points - and a significantly slimmer chance of being selected again. D'oh!
Having communicated with a very helpful lady at the NZIS we now understand exactly what went wrong with the process, and are working towards a way of getting plucked from the pool once again. We are only allowed to stay in the pool for six months at a time after which we can re-submit (for a fee $) and hope we get pulled out then. Hopefully, we can update our Expression of Interest before that and get cracking on the process asap.
It's really frustrating at the moment because there is literally nothing we can do to move the process forward. We have already sent our qualifications off to be assessed and they are on their way back, and we are registering with the New Zealand Teaching Council so are stuck! Aaaah!
We will keep plodding on and working away because this is the dream! It's gonna happen!
Having communicated with a very helpful lady at the NZIS we now understand exactly what went wrong with the process, and are working towards a way of getting plucked from the pool once again. We are only allowed to stay in the pool for six months at a time after which we can re-submit (for a fee $) and hope we get pulled out then. Hopefully, we can update our Expression of Interest before that and get cracking on the process asap.
It's really frustrating at the moment because there is literally nothing we can do to move the process forward. We have already sent our qualifications off to be assessed and they are on their way back, and we are registering with the New Zealand Teaching Council so are stuck! Aaaah!
We will keep plodding on and working away because this is the dream! It's gonna happen!
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Another comparison
Good morning everybody (Good morning Mr Morris-Adams, good morning everyone). Today, children, we will be discussing primary schools...
As a primary school teacher in England (and having been one for almost five whole years now), I am particularly interested in the way schools work over in Kiwiland. Unfortunately, the first time I visited NZ, teaching little sprogs was pretty far from my mind so I never made the effort to visit any primary schools. However, on a more recent visit, my wife and I were lucky enough to go to my little cousin's primary school for the afternoon to witness Kiwi pedagogy in action. I know, I know, this is a tiny sample and can't possibly represent all the schools in New Zealand, but it is a place to start, isn't it?!
Well, it was certainly different. We were coming to see a Year 6 class going on and from the moment we approached the school we began saying 'you wouldn't see that back home', and 'that's cool!'. First off, our school in Brum has fences all the way around, CCTV covering every inch of the grounds, and to get in you have to either have a magnetic fob or plead your case through a metallic box by the gate. In contrast, the NZ school was open, welcoming, friendly and laid back. When we arrived, my uncle Mick strolled into the classroom, said 'hey' to the teacher and his son Ollie before embarassing him with a big hug and then strolled out again, leaving us to it!
The children were not wearing any uniform (green jumper, grey or black trousers, black shoes at our school), the teachers were more casually dressed (I'm a big fan of this particular aspect of teaching in NZ), the children were running around the grounds having a great time (it was break, and remember they are children), and of course, they had no shoes on. Yep, no shoes. Brilliant!
In the classroom, kids were allowed to sit in chairs, on the carpet, on a sofa(!), or stand if they wished while the teacher was talking. Admittedly this was Friday avo, but when the teacher asked the children to get on with it, they did. Some finished maths work, some tidied up, some finished a project, but they were all 'on-task'. Our kids are usually required to all sit on the carpet with occasional exceptions for broken legs or extreme fidgeting.
We chatted to some of the children and they were mostly eloquent, enthusiastic, and charming - there were some cheeky ones, and some shy ones - as ever. To be fair to our kids, they can be pretty awesome too.
The grounds however, were a different story. They had a huge expanse of grass to play on at break and lunch times (sans shoes, of course!), big classrooms, benches dotted around the place, a basketball court, and a swimming pool. At a primary school. Love it! We have a tiny speck of grass, lots of concrete and no swimming pool...
I know, I can hear you screaming at the computer. Some schools in the UK have lots of grass and no security, and are brilliant, and conversely some schools in NZ are probably run-down and somewhat less appealing. It doesn't stop me wanting to go and teach in New Zealand though. Because one day, just maybe, I may be allowed to wear flip-flops (sorry, thongs) to work!
As a primary school teacher in England (and having been one for almost five whole years now), I am particularly interested in the way schools work over in Kiwiland. Unfortunately, the first time I visited NZ, teaching little sprogs was pretty far from my mind so I never made the effort to visit any primary schools. However, on a more recent visit, my wife and I were lucky enough to go to my little cousin's primary school for the afternoon to witness Kiwi pedagogy in action. I know, I know, this is a tiny sample and can't possibly represent all the schools in New Zealand, but it is a place to start, isn't it?!
Well, it was certainly different. We were coming to see a Year 6 class going on and from the moment we approached the school we began saying 'you wouldn't see that back home', and 'that's cool!'. First off, our school in Brum has fences all the way around, CCTV covering every inch of the grounds, and to get in you have to either have a magnetic fob or plead your case through a metallic box by the gate. In contrast, the NZ school was open, welcoming, friendly and laid back. When we arrived, my uncle Mick strolled into the classroom, said 'hey' to the teacher and his son Ollie before embarassing him with a big hug and then strolled out again, leaving us to it!
The children were not wearing any uniform (green jumper, grey or black trousers, black shoes at our school), the teachers were more casually dressed (I'm a big fan of this particular aspect of teaching in NZ), the children were running around the grounds having a great time (it was break, and remember they are children), and of course, they had no shoes on. Yep, no shoes. Brilliant!
In the classroom, kids were allowed to sit in chairs, on the carpet, on a sofa(!), or stand if they wished while the teacher was talking. Admittedly this was Friday avo, but when the teacher asked the children to get on with it, they did. Some finished maths work, some tidied up, some finished a project, but they were all 'on-task'. Our kids are usually required to all sit on the carpet with occasional exceptions for broken legs or extreme fidgeting.
We chatted to some of the children and they were mostly eloquent, enthusiastic, and charming - there were some cheeky ones, and some shy ones - as ever. To be fair to our kids, they can be pretty awesome too.
The grounds however, were a different story. They had a huge expanse of grass to play on at break and lunch times (sans shoes, of course!), big classrooms, benches dotted around the place, a basketball court, and a swimming pool. At a primary school. Love it! We have a tiny speck of grass, lots of concrete and no swimming pool...
I know, I can hear you screaming at the computer. Some schools in the UK have lots of grass and no security, and are brilliant, and conversely some schools in NZ are probably run-down and somewhat less appealing. It doesn't stop me wanting to go and teach in New Zealand though. Because one day, just maybe, I may be allowed to wear flip-flops (sorry, thongs) to work!
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Comparatively...
With such a long process regarding making a permanent move to New Zealand comes inevitable thoughts along the lines of "Is this really a good idea?", "Should we go to Canada instead?" and "Why on earth are we trying to do this?". To that end, I've been thinking about trying to make direct comparisons between experiences in New Zealand and vaguely related ones in the Great British Isles.
So the first comparison that comes to mind is the renowned Kiwi friendliness. When I first went to New Zealand back in 2000 we found a lovely house in the Grey Lynn/Ponsonby area of Auckland. It was only two days after arriving, and having moved in, a couple of us (8 people were living in the 4-bed house!) were charged with having a look around the neighbourhood to find useful amenities and the like. We found the park, Dairy (like a newsagent for those who don't already know), beach, Indian takeaway, off-license, and launderette. A successful trip, all-in-all, but on the way back to the house for some table-tennis and arguments about the toilet roll, we somehow got chatting to a lovely couple who ran a commercial refrigerator business. They kindly invited us in for a tea and a chat. We explained we were from 'the motherland' and had only very recently arrived. As we chatted they made suggestions about how to get jobs (they even apologised for not having any at their business), where we could get cut-price furniture, where to get good food, and other choice nuggets of information that earned us major brownie points on return to the house! What a pleasant introduction to the area :o) It seemed like a genuine act of kindness, the like of which I had rarely experienced before.
Not to be out-done though, the UK - Brum in particular - has fought back with an extreme (because it was so unexpected?!) act of kindness. My wife and I popped out on the scooters one day, parked up and wondered off for a leisurely stroll, some shopping, lunch and a meet-up with friends. We had a pleasant few hours and too-soon the time came to jump on the scooters and head home. Walking back to the scooter, the Mrs came to realise that she couldn't find her keys. I'd heard this once or twice before so said 'check your bag again". Such a sympathetic husband. After another seemingly thorough check, she was adamant they were not in the bag. Beginning to worry, we quickened our pace fully expecting to turn the corner and see an empty space where the scooter used to be. Rounding the corner past Argos, we were thinking about how we could explain this to the insurance company when we spotted the now lonely scooter parked on the road. Making our way towards it we saw there was a note stuck to the scooter on top of where the keys had been left. In the ignition. The note said:
"To get your scooter back, just give me a call on this number:..."
We couldn't believe our luck. We gave the chap (a young boy of about 16) a call and he happily came by and handed over the keys. He amusingly chastised my wife and said that a few boys had been hanging around the scooter eyeing it - probably only put off from riding away with a free scooter because of the colour - girlie pink. Another surprising act of kindness - this time at home in the UK.
The thing you have to factor in here, readers (any of you out there?!), is that I have spent approximately 9.5 months in New Zealand and as well as the above example I can think of quite a few more where Kiwis have surprised me with genuine kindness. On the other hand, I've lived in England for 30 years (admittedly, I can only really remember the last 20 or so) and am searching my substantial memory banks for similar shows of humanity and coming up blank. Obviously everyones experiences are different and I'm not daft enough to think that everyone in NZ is kinder than the UK or that no-one in England is capable of being thoughtful or helpful, but for me this was at least one reason to give the move consideration...
So the first comparison that comes to mind is the renowned Kiwi friendliness. When I first went to New Zealand back in 2000 we found a lovely house in the Grey Lynn/Ponsonby area of Auckland. It was only two days after arriving, and having moved in, a couple of us (8 people were living in the 4-bed house!) were charged with having a look around the neighbourhood to find useful amenities and the like. We found the park, Dairy (like a newsagent for those who don't already know), beach, Indian takeaway, off-license, and launderette. A successful trip, all-in-all, but on the way back to the house for some table-tennis and arguments about the toilet roll, we somehow got chatting to a lovely couple who ran a commercial refrigerator business. They kindly invited us in for a tea and a chat. We explained we were from 'the motherland' and had only very recently arrived. As we chatted they made suggestions about how to get jobs (they even apologised for not having any at their business), where we could get cut-price furniture, where to get good food, and other choice nuggets of information that earned us major brownie points on return to the house! What a pleasant introduction to the area :o) It seemed like a genuine act of kindness, the like of which I had rarely experienced before.
Not to be out-done though, the UK - Brum in particular - has fought back with an extreme (because it was so unexpected?!) act of kindness. My wife and I popped out on the scooters one day, parked up and wondered off for a leisurely stroll, some shopping, lunch and a meet-up with friends. We had a pleasant few hours and too-soon the time came to jump on the scooters and head home. Walking back to the scooter, the Mrs came to realise that she couldn't find her keys. I'd heard this once or twice before so said 'check your bag again". Such a sympathetic husband. After another seemingly thorough check, she was adamant they were not in the bag. Beginning to worry, we quickened our pace fully expecting to turn the corner and see an empty space where the scooter used to be. Rounding the corner past Argos, we were thinking about how we could explain this to the insurance company when we spotted the now lonely scooter parked on the road. Making our way towards it we saw there was a note stuck to the scooter on top of where the keys had been left. In the ignition. The note said:
"To get your scooter back, just give me a call on this number:..."
We couldn't believe our luck. We gave the chap (a young boy of about 16) a call and he happily came by and handed over the keys. He amusingly chastised my wife and said that a few boys had been hanging around the scooter eyeing it - probably only put off from riding away with a free scooter because of the colour - girlie pink. Another surprising act of kindness - this time at home in the UK.
The thing you have to factor in here, readers (any of you out there?!), is that I have spent approximately 9.5 months in New Zealand and as well as the above example I can think of quite a few more where Kiwis have surprised me with genuine kindness. On the other hand, I've lived in England for 30 years (admittedly, I can only really remember the last 20 or so) and am searching my substantial memory banks for similar shows of humanity and coming up blank. Obviously everyones experiences are different and I'm not daft enough to think that everyone in NZ is kinder than the UK or that no-one in England is capable of being thoughtful or helpful, but for me this was at least one reason to give the move consideration...
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Interest Expressed
It's been half term this week and the wife and I have gone New Zealand mad! On Sunday we submitted our Expression of Interest to Immigration New Zealand. We had our fingers crossed on the Wednesday as they were due to dip into the 'pool' and pick out the next 500 people lucky enough to get an Invitation to Apply. Unbelievably, and excitingly we were selected from the pool that day!
Far from being the end of the process, this now means an agonising wait while the Kiwis conduct preliminary checks on the information we provided to see if we are honest and worthy of receiving an Invitation to Apply. This could take a month or more, I'm told!
When/if we do get this ITA, we still have to get medicals (scary), police checks, evidence of our work experience and send it all off with a big, fat, hairy cheque to get our much desired visas. I'll tell you what though, getting selected after submitting the EOI feels like a massive step in the right direction.
Other NZ things we did this week included a great deal of research about life in NZ on the internet (I'm constantly reading other peoples blogs and looking on NZ forums and wotnot). I never tire of reading other peoples emigration stories, and I like to think I learn a bit from each of them too. In terms of research, I've also read many of the New Zealand related books I can find - from Joe Bennets 'Land of Two Halves' to my most recent acqusition, 'Gumboots, Lesson Plans, and Hot Rugby Nights' by J.A. Flynn. The best I've read about New Zealand are probably;
However, there was a stand there from 'Brits NZ' manned by a guy called Mike Cole. We had a nice chat with him and he made some interesting suggestions and helpful comments. The other thing he did, was sell me a copy of his book about his family's journey to New Zealand and their new life in the Taranaki region - I can't wait to start reading it!
Anyway, it's been a bit of a long one, so I will let you get off :o) Take care!
Far from being the end of the process, this now means an agonising wait while the Kiwis conduct preliminary checks on the information we provided to see if we are honest and worthy of receiving an Invitation to Apply. This could take a month or more, I'm told!
When/if we do get this ITA, we still have to get medicals (scary), police checks, evidence of our work experience and send it all off with a big, fat, hairy cheque to get our much desired visas. I'll tell you what though, getting selected after submitting the EOI feels like a massive step in the right direction.
Other NZ things we did this week included a great deal of research about life in NZ on the internet (I'm constantly reading other peoples blogs and looking on NZ forums and wotnot). I never tire of reading other peoples emigration stories, and I like to think I learn a bit from each of them too. In terms of research, I've also read many of the New Zealand related books I can find - from Joe Bennets 'Land of Two Halves' to my most recent acqusition, 'Gumboots, Lesson Plans, and Hot Rugby Nights' by J.A. Flynn. The best I've read about New Zealand are probably;- New Boots in New Zealand by Gillian Orrell
- Slipping into Paradise by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
- A New Life in New Zealand by Paul Goddard (an account of emigrating to NZuseful rather than entertaining)
However, there was a stand there from 'Brits NZ' manned by a guy called Mike Cole. We had a nice chat with him and he made some interesting suggestions and helpful comments. The other thing he did, was sell me a copy of his book about his family's journey to New Zealand and their new life in the Taranaki region - I can't wait to start reading it!
Anyway, it's been a bit of a long one, so I will let you get off :o) Take care!
Friday, 21 January 2011
The smallest victory...
We're getting there. It really is beginning to feel like that. Finally the universities have got their acts together - my wife has received transcripts for both her qualifications and mine have been promised to me by early next week. And this time, I believe them!
So this means that we are getting to tick some things off the enormous 'to-do' list we have created in order to get to New Zealand. Each of those little ticks - however small - feels like a massive victory and a genuine step in the right direction. It's a long list though and it is going to take a long time to get the the end of it and tick off 'Arrive in New Zealand'.
In theory, it is less than a year now. People have started asking about the specifics at work and people are beginning to take us a little more seriously instead of the previous responses of 'Oh, that's nice' and 'Yes, I've heard Australia is lovely'. One year left - in that year we have to; renew passports, write awesome CV's, quit a job we've been doing for five years, sell all of our superfluous stuff, save a lot of money, fill in an EOI (Expression of Interest), have qualifications assessed, research, find a job, say goodbye to everyone, get medicals, get police checks, send stuff to New Zealand, cancel accounts, find lost documents, and worryingly about 100 other things I haven't thought of! It's not easy :o)
When those transcripts finally arrive, I will be taking about 15 copies and placing one in the folder, one in a book, one in a cupboard, one in ...
So this means that we are getting to tick some things off the enormous 'to-do' list we have created in order to get to New Zealand. Each of those little ticks - however small - feels like a massive victory and a genuine step in the right direction. It's a long list though and it is going to take a long time to get the the end of it and tick off 'Arrive in New Zealand'.
In theory, it is less than a year now. People have started asking about the specifics at work and people are beginning to take us a little more seriously instead of the previous responses of 'Oh, that's nice' and 'Yes, I've heard Australia is lovely'. One year left - in that year we have to; renew passports, write awesome CV's, quit a job we've been doing for five years, sell all of our superfluous stuff, save a lot of money, fill in an EOI (Expression of Interest), have qualifications assessed, research, find a job, say goodbye to everyone, get medicals, get police checks, send stuff to New Zealand, cancel accounts, find lost documents, and worryingly about 100 other things I haven't thought of! It's not easy :o)
When those transcripts finally arrive, I will be taking about 15 copies and placing one in the folder, one in a book, one in a cupboard, one in ...
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